


The couple who solves murders together stays together!

by The_Consulting_Werewolf



Category: EXO (Band), SuperM (Korea Band), WayV (Band)
Genre: Blood and Violence, Character Death, Domestic Fluff, M/M, Mild Smut, Murder Mystery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-03-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:00:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22559815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Consulting_Werewolf/pseuds/The_Consulting_Werewolf
Summary: Mystery enthusiasts and newly affianced couple, Yukhei and Jongin, move into their new apartment complex. What they think is their new beginning soon turns into a nightmare as people drop dead in alarming frequency and Jongin’s past catches up to him.
Relationships: Bae Joohyun | Irene/Jennie Kim, Byun Baekhyun/Kim Taeyeon, Hirai Momo/Kim Heechul, Kim Jongin | Kai/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas, Kim Junmyeon | Suho/Wu Yi Fan | Kris, Kim Seokjin | Jin/Park Chanyeol
Comments: 10
Kudos: 32





	1. ONE

**Author's Note:**

> what is this trash? IDK

Yukhei sighs as he stretches his whole body, satisfied at the cracks his bones make. He has been sitting in the truck for so long now. He hears the door to the car opening and closing and he turns around to find Jongin walking up to him. Yukhei skips towards him and throws his arm around Jongin’s shoulder, who beams up at him. They both turn their heads to look at the building in front of him, drenched in the early morning light. This white, modern building is now their new home, and they are so excited. 

The delivery guys also hop down the vehicle and start pulling out their boxes. A short, elderly man comes running out of the main entrance and bows at them, smiling widely, “Are you mister Kim and mister Wong?”

Yukhei steps ahead and bows back. “I’m Wong Yukhei and this is my husband, Kim Jongin.”

Jongin smiles a little but he says nothing more—just throws a look at Yukhei—as he bows, introducing himself. The man introduces himself as the caretaker and lends them a hand. 

As they make their many trips from the entrance to their apartment on the third floor, Yukhei and Jongin end up telling their life story. Yukhei informs how he works as a fitness instructor and has his own YouTube channel. Jongin tells the man how he works as a choreographer to popular pop groups in the country right now and co-owns a studio with friends. Then, they find themselves facing the same old question when the man, Jongho, asks Yukhei, “I’d think you’re too young to be married!” He follows it up with boisterous laughter but Yukhei glances at Jongin, whose smile wanes a little. He quickly wraps his arm around Jongin’s shoulder and says, “Well, we’re actually ten years apart in age but I knew I was going to marry him when I met him.”

Jongin feels the usual warmth filling him from within at Yukhei’s words. He knows the younger is in this for life but Jongin can’t forget that he is thirty-four and his husband is twenty-four and he keeps thinking how long his old, boring self can keep Yukhei here. As if Yukhei could read his mind, he quickly drops a kiss on Jongin’s temple and grins, “He’s just so gorgeous, isn’t he?”

Jongho laughs, “Oh, you two are adorable.” He looks out of the window for a moment and sighs, “I remember when I had married my girl…” Yukhei and Jongin share a glance. Jongin takes a closer look and he notices the wedding band on Jongho’s left hand. Jongho snaps back and smiles, “Alright, I’ll let you guys settle and maybe you can come down for the resident’s meeting tonight! We hold one every week, every Saturday!”

Yukhei nods and Jongin is reminded of a Retriever puppy at the way his dark brown hair flops. Bong Jongho takes his leave, and slowly, so do the delivery guys and soon, it’s just Yukhei and Jongin in their new home. 

Yukhei looks at Jongin, who is putting the boxes labelled ‘kitchen’ into the open kitchen and he cannot help but smile, his heart growing maybe ten times more its size with the love he holds for this one amazing man. He walks up to Jongin and throws his arms around his waist, nuzzling into his nape. Jongin chuckles as he strokes the side of Yukhei’s face, “Hey, there.”

Yukhei lightly nips at Jongin’s ear lobe and mutters, “Hi.” He looks around the space before him, the living room drenched in sunlight that splays on the light wooden floor. The 2BHK apartment is moderately sized but it is perfect for them. They don’t have children and are not really planning on any, so Yukhei and Jongin both knew this would do them very well. Between them, they also knew they could afford to buy this apartment and even with the mortgage, they are not too financially hurt by this. In all, Yukhei is happy, so is Jongin.

Jongin turns around in Yukhei’s arms and locks his hands behind the taller’s neck. He kisses Yukhei on his lips and smiles, “You know, you gotta stop telling people we’re married.”

Yukhei juts his lower lip out and Jongin would know that is a sign of Yukhei sulking but with the sparkle in his eyes, Jongin knows his fiance is about to say something stupid. And he does as he holds his left hand up and grins, “But we’re already wearing our rings?” He kisses Jongin’s jaw and smiles, “And it’s only the registration that’s left. We both agreed to do away with a massive ceremony!”

Jongin smiles and he is glad Yukhei cannot see how ungenuine his smile is. He licks his lips and says, “We will, just give me some time, okay?”

Yukhei nods; he understands that something from Jongin’s past makes him unable to do something as simple as register their marriage. The form is filled out, the signs done, they just need to go to the court and submit it to get their marriage certificate. And Yukhei can wait, he can wait for however long. He drops another kiss on Jongin’s plump lips and says, “I can wait as long as you need me to.”

Jongin feels his heart swelling and then clenching uncomfortably. God, how did he get so lucky when he met this wonderful, beautiful man?

_“Oh! Kindaichi? I love this manga!”_

_Jongin was taking a break in this new cafe with his new Kindaichi manga when this loud voice startles him. He turns his head up to find a young man with big, bright eyes and an infectious smile looking down at him. Jongin smiles slightly, “Uh, yeah, I love this manga too.”_

_The man takes the seat opposite him and nods, “I don’t often meet many Kindaichi fans because everyone either likes Conan or pretends Kindaichi doesn’t exist! Like his grandfather wasn’t why detective mangas became a thing!”_

_Jongin laughs at the genuine passion in the younger man’s voice. He says, “I agree.” He extends a hand, “I am Jongin, you are?”_

_The man smiles and Jongin perhaps swoons a bit at how handsome he is. And then he wraps his big, warm, calloused hands around his and says, “Wong Yukhei, always nice to meet a fellow fan.”_

Jongin manages to drag Yukhei away from himself and get him to at least set up the kitchen. They are done with the kitchen and about to hang the curtains when Jongin gets a message. He reads it and curses. Yukhei looks at him in askance and Jongin sheepishly grins, “It’s Tae, he needs me at the studio. I forgot we have that shoot today.”

Yukhei grins; he hops up to Jongin and grabbing his shoulders, says, “It’s okay, gege, you go. I can do this on my own.”

Guilt fills Jongin up and he pouts, putting his head on Yukhei’s chest. “I’m sorry.” He leans back and says, “I swear I will buy you your favourite when I come back!”

Yukhei wriggles his eyebrows, “Noodles? I like this bargain!”

With one long, toe-curling kiss, Yukhei lets Jongin go and even as he takes the car to his studio, he is still smiling and touching his lips. Yukhei’s kisses are always like this, filled with burning passion and love that he doesn’t forget to drown Jongin with. He looks at his own left hand, where the silver band glimmers. His smile drops when he remembers—he cannot keep doing this to Yukhei forever.

The studio, TNJS Choreo, shines brightly in the dying afternoon light. The studio was his and his three best friend’s dream for the longest time. They danced in videos, on stages, taught others and finally are here and treated as the best among the best. But his bubble pops when he recognises the black Rolls Royce waiting outside the building.

Jongin parks his car and tries to head for the entrance but he hears footsteps behind and finally, a loud voice says, “Kim Jongin, I know you know.”

Jongin sighs and slowly turns around. It is Kim Wonshik, the man he is still married to, who enjoys his misery and would not let him divorce him. Jongin presses his lips and says, “What do you want?”

“You and the kid shifted?” Wonshik asks.

“And what if we did?” Jongin says as he fists his hands. Wonshik keeps calling Yukhei “kid” as if that label will somehow make Yukhei any lesser in Jongin’s eyes. “Why do you even care? I’m not coming back, just accept it.”

A dark cloud flashes across Wonshik’s face. He pushes his hands into his trouser pockets and shakes his head, “Not so easy, Nini. You know why.”

Jongin sighs, “Please, I love Yukhei, Wonshik, not you anymore.”

Something malicious makes a home in Wonshik’s eyes as he says, “Time to meet this guy, no? I found this new gym recently, called Wave?”

Jongin’s eyes widen as he forgets how to breathe. Wave Fitness and Health is where Yukhei works. He is about to formulate a response when a voice behind him shouts, “Get off the property Kim before I call the cops!”

Jongin recognises the voice, it belongs to his friend Jimin, one of the owners of the studio. Wonshik just scowls before slinking away, not before throwing a look filled with arrogance at Jongin. Jongin groans and Jimin rushes up to him to pull him into a hug. Jimin rubs his back as he says, “There, there, I know. What does he want now?”

Jongin sighs and leans back, “He found out where Yukhei works.”

Jimin widens his eyes, “Nini, you know, you’ve to tell Yukhei this before that asshole can.”

Jongin whines, scrubbing his face, “How can I? How can I break his heart like this? The case is going to court, his infidelity evidence is almost collected. Wonshik would have no option but to let me go.”

Jimin rubs his shoulders and says, “I still don’t get why he keeps coming back. He cheats and what does he want now?”

Jongin shrugs, “He thought I’d stay, be the good, docile guy he married.” He shakes his head and tries to smile, “Let’s go anyway. We have a video to shoot.”

The shoot lasts three hours and Jongin hangs around for another because the girl group who came today are Yukhei’s favourite, so he takes all of their autographs. Taemin, Jimin and Sehun all ply on him next, asking when they are getting invitations to their new apartment. Jongin throws his hands up and chuckles, “I swear, soon! Let us set up first! We don’t even have a couch!”

Sehun smirks, “Bet you already have the bed though.”

Jongin blushes, “Listen, we only have the frame, okay?”

Taemin nudges Sehun and grins, “Oh, how many bedframes does this make? Haven’t you two broken, what, two, by now?”

The three evil people, he calls friends, laugh and Jongin swats at them. His face still burns as they say goodbye and he makes his way back to the car. They only broke that one bedframe, really. And it was in a hotel and how could they have known it could not take their weight?

He gets the noodles from Yukhei’s favourite shop and gets lost as well. It is a new apartment, so he guesses it will take him some time to get used to the area. The place is on the northern side of the Han and having lived near Gangnam all his life, he doesn’t know this area well but the apartment was affordable and too good to give up. He finally puts the address on the GPS and lets the lady guide him. 

The sun has set and dusk lies heavily on the spring air. The Super Height complex looks nice in the pinkish hue of the sky. He parks his car and as he does, the loud noise of children surprises him. He notices a family of four descend from their van and make their way towards the building. It is two men and two kids, a boy and a girl, and perhaps they are twins. The kids chatter loudly and their parents look at them with so much affection, it can’t help but make Jongin smile.

They are all waiting for the elevator when one man from the couple—the shorter one—asks, “Are you the new occupants on the third floor?” 

Jongin nods, “Yes, we moved in today.” He bows, “I’m Jongin, Kim Jongin.”

The shorter one with the round, gentle face and bright, toothy smile nods, “I’m Kim Junmyeon, this is my husband Wu Yifan,” he points at the taller, a rather model-looking man beside him, “And these are our two troublemakers, Jaehyun and Caiying.” Jongin can’t help but coo at the two children, who smile at him with their cheeks flushing. They are rather adorable. Junmyeon adds, “We live on the third floor, too.”

Jongin bows again, “Oh, that’s great. My husband and I would love to invite you over one day.” He giggles next, “We just need a couch, first.”

Yifan, finally talks, smiling, “Ah, we’ve been there.” He scratches his neck as he says, “I have a friend who deals with furniture, he helped us decorate our apartment too. I could leave his number with you?”

Jongin widens his eyes and he decides he rather likes this couple. He thanks them and the elevator arrives, which they take. As they talk in the lift, he learns Yifan works as a sports announcer and Junmyeon works as a proofreader at a manhwa company. Their kids are four years old and just started preschool. Jongin informs them about how his school also teaches dance to kids and Yifan chuckles, “Oh god, that’s a good idea though. Maybe, that is the way to curb their energies!”

Junmyeon laughs along, “We thought the terrible twos are terrible but we were wrong!”

Jaehyun and Caiying don’t understand the energy part but they do get the dance part and soon, Jongin has to answer if he can teach them Twice choreographies. Jongin swears he can. 

They separate at their respective flats and the children promise to visit him at his studio one day. Jongin keeps grinning and the happy feeling in his heart does not go away till he is back inside and finds the curtains up. Even the bookshelves are now stuffed with their combined detective manga collection. Yukhei, himself, is on the floor with a bottle of red wine open as he grins, “Welcome home, gege.”

At this moment, Jongin does not know where it comes from or how it happens, but all the events of the day, his own emotions—and the man before him smiling at him in that soft, loving way he always does—makes him drop his things and go crashing into Yukhei. There are other things too, like their bare living room, their glasses on the floor, the end of the day and the fact that is all still theirs. And Yukhei catches him, wrapping his arms around Jongin as if on reflex and pulls him into his lap.

Yukhei has his nose pressed into Jongin’s neck as he asks, “Everything okay?”

Jongin nods, his head rubbing on Yukhei’s shoulder as he says, “Just, a stressful day.” He turns a little and looks at the bookshelves and chuckles, “I expected you to set that up first and you did!”

Yukhei laughs along, “Of course, I did! What else is more important than our collection?”

Jongin laughs again and pulls back to cup Yukhei’s face. Yukhei takes this opportunity to press his lips against Jongin’s, who happily reciprocates. Yukhei traps Jongin’s upper lip between his before moving onto the lower lip and nipping gently on it, sucking on it. Jongin gasps a little and a keen shiver passes through his body. Yukhei puts a hand on his back, trying to get him closer but then Jongin remembers something and pulls back, grinning, “You don’t want the noodles to get cold, do you?”

Yukhei is at first a little flabbergasted at why Jongin pulled back but then he laughs, shaking a little, “Of course, of course!” He gestures Jongin to get off his lap and he stands up, “I will get the bowls, you go freshen up.”

Jongin does as suggested and when he comes back, Yukhei has their crockery out and a bottle of his favourite chilli oil too. Jongin had also bought stir-fried veggies and Yukhei is currently picking out the beans because Jongin doesn’t like them. This simple gesture warms Jongin up and he is smiling as he joins Yukhei.

They eat and Jongin tells him about the shoot. Yukhei yelps when he learns his favourite girl group had visited the studio. Jongin shows him the autographs and Yukhei may have cried a little at that (Jongin is greatly amused and he even manages to take a video of his fiance dying over his favourite pop group).

They move into the kitchen when dinner is finished. There is not a whole lot to wash, so they are drying the bowls and still chatting against the sink when a loud noise has them stop talking. Jongin looks about, frowning, “What was that?”

Yukhei says, “It sounded like a thumping sound, right? Like on wood?”

Jongin looked towards the balcony, which has sliding glass windows to keep out rain and birds. Yukhei had put up the curtains so he cannot see outside. He slowly inches towards it as he says, “Like glass?”

Yukhei follows him as Jongin grabs the cotton curtains. Jongin takes a deep breath before he pulls it and then, they both gasp.

Yukhei had pulled the windows before, so they see a vague shadow beyond the frosted glass. It looks _human_. They look at each other and it is Yukhei who moves first. He opens the doors to the balcony, steps outside and slides the glass. 

He finds Jongho hanging upside down, his eyes wide in fear as blood slowly trickles from the wound in his neck. Behind him, he hears Jongin shout, “Oh my god!”


	2. TWO

Yifan is ushering his children back inside their rooms as Junmyeon hands Jongin and Yukhei teacups filled with lavender tea. The police had been in their balcony, trying to collect any evidence. Someone had slit Jongho’s throat and then hung him upside down from the balcony on the floor above. No one lived in that apartment and since Jongho still had the key for the flat in his pockets, the police are now looking through CCTV footage as well.

Jongin and Yukhei have been too spooked to stay in the flat, so Junmyeon and Yifan happily opened their door and let them stay overnight. The incident bought the other occupants of the third and fourth floors out. There are only four apartments on each floor, so there aren’t many people. Some of them kept chattering amongst themselves and some looked at the new couple in varying degrees of interest. That too made Jongin kind of uncomfortable, especially this young man named Kim Jungwoo, who, when introducing himself, behaved like he couldn’t see Jongin and positively batted his eyelashes at Yukhei.

The sofa in the Kim-Wu household opens into a bed, so Yukhei is helping Junmyeon set it up as Yifan and Jongin take back the cups to the kitchen. Yifan carefully asks, “Are you okay now?”

Jongin sighs, “Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that face.”

Yifan pats Jongin’s shoulder and does not say anything more, for which Jongin is infinitely grateful. They head back to the living room where Jongin sees how easily Yukhei has befriended Junmyeon. That is a special power his fiance has—no one who meets can ever hate him. 

The Kim-Wu apartment has the same layout as theirs but the space is distinctly their own. The walls are a soft yellow and the sofa and chairs look well-worn and comfortable. It is cosy and anyone can say that kids do live here because of the hand-drawn pictures on the fridge, a random dinosaur toy peeking out from the bookshelf. Jongin starts thinking about how to best decorate their home now as he is almost jealous of how well Yifan and Junmyeon had done up their living room with the small knickknacks and tasteful art on the walls. 

Junmyeon too asks after them and bids them goodnight, telling them to wake him up if they ever need anything. The married couple retreat to their bedroom and Yukhei turns off the lights. Jongin was already on the bed, so he burrows under the cover and waits for Yukhei to return. A small gasp tells Jongin his fiance obviously stabbed his toe into something. When Yukhei joins him, he asks, “You alright?”

Yukhei puts an arm around Jongin and pulls him closer. Jongin yields and snuggles into Yukhei’s chest. Yukhei rubs his back and smiles, “I think I stepped on a Lego.”

Jongin softly giggles, “Now, that’s awful.”

Yukhei kisses Jongin’s nose and his smile wanes as he says, “Are you okay now?”

Jongin sighs and rests his forehead on Yukhei’s sternum and mumbles, “I don’t know, I don’t know. How do I get over what I saw?” He snuggles deeper. “God, all that blood…”

Yukhei tightens his arm around Jongin and says, “I don’t think I can get over that either...But we’re in this together, okay gege? Don’t forget that, so if you need to talk about this, you will, okay? I’ll always listen.”

Jongin smiles a little and lifts his head. He cups Yukhei’s neck and whispers, “And I’ll listen to you too. I love you.”

Yukhei grins and even in the darkness with only this dim light coming from the kitchen, he shines so brightly. “I love you.”

Jongin closes his eyes next and feels safe, secure in the arms of the one he loves and he feels like nothing can ever scare him again. He is okay when Yukhei is here, he always is.

Both Jongin and Yukhei work Sundays, so both of them do not spend much time in their apartment besides grabbing clothes and leaving. Jongin insists on dropping Yukhei, who usually takes the train. When they are in front of his workplace, Yukhei grabs Jongin’s hand and leans in, pressing his lips lightly on Jongin’s and asks, “You’ll be fine, right?”

Jongin nods, pressing his lips back, “Yes, yes I will be. Yifan and Junmyeon’s kids are coming to enrol today, so I guarantee you that will distract me enough.”

Yukhei chuckles, “They’re so cute but god, they’re like tiny little tornadoes!” Yukhei got a firsthand taste of the Kim-Wu siblings when Jaehyun jumped on him this morning and asked who he was. His sister followed and Yukhei has never been this awake on a Sunday.

Jongin laughs, “I expect to be thoroughly tired today!” 

Yukhei kisses him one more time, and once again till Jongin shoves him out of the car. Yukhei keeps standing in the parking lot till Jongin’s car disappears around the corner. He sighs and finally walks into Wave and the receptionist, Sana, pipes up, “Ah, Yukhei, you have a new client!”

Yukhei raises his eyebrows. A new client? He already has like five on hand right now and he had explicitly told his manager he cannot take anymore. He does not complain to Sana though and just nods, engages in small talk before moving on to his locker. He quickly changes his outfit into the lurid green Wave uniform and decides to see this new client of his. He can always say no later, decide if the person would be worth it and capable to handle the training.

He finds the client easily enough, this tall, lean man dressed in designer gym clothes. He turns around and Yukhei understands he is a little older, probably a highly paid salaryman. The man also had dark hair, pushed back but Yukhei can tell he had coloured hair a little time ago because the black is almost blue. The man comes up to him and smiles, “You must be mister Wong, right? I am Kim Wonshik.” 

Yukhei extends his hand and puts on his customer service smile, “Yes, yes I’m. Nice to meet you, mister Kim. Now, how can I help you?”

Wonshik smiles and looks a little embarrassed as he shakes Yukhei’s hand and says, “As you can see,” he touches his chest, “I’m too lean, and my stamina is total shit, so I want to just build up some strength so I don’t die of just walking up the stairs.”

Yukhei smiles a little more genuinely this time. He likes honesty in his clients, so he thinks he can take this one. And it is extra pay, so why not. He nods and waves his hand towards the bench, “Okay, alright, why don’t we talk about possible training regimes for you?”

Jongin returns home before Yukhei does and he wishes he didn’t have to return all alone but he tells himself he is a grown man and he is not afraid of spectres among other things. Also, it is not like the murder happened in this room. He had read the news while he was taking a break. Jongho was definitely murdered in the room above and they saw wrong last night, no one hand hung him but he had caught himself in the satellite dish wire while coming down. Jongin does not know yet if this information calms him or worried him more.

Because there are a few things he cannot shake off.

As he changes into his pyjamas, he thinks of the things bothering him. First, if the murder happened upstairs in an empty flat that would mean Jongho entered it himself. Why? Well, wouldn’t the caretaker have the master key? Second, if the caretaker willingly opened the door for the murderer, does that imply he knew him or her? Jongin looks at the ceiling and chews on his lip. A little glimpse won’t hurt, right?

He looks at the time. Yukhei won’t be home in another hour at the most—he can risk his trip. He quietly heads out and he does feel like a burglar when he looks either way before taking the stairs above. There is a guard outside the door and Jongin curses a little as he stands crouching around the corner. But then to his extremely good luck, the guard gets a phone call and he wanders off. Jongin rushes forward and ducks under the police tape. 

The apartment is nothing special and has the same layout like theirs. But it is eerily empty. The late evening sun seeps into the cold, lonely living room but the golden pink hues are not enough to warm the place up. Jongin’s eyes finally land on a spot by the balcony coloured a deep red and even though the blood was removed, Jongin feels like he catches the phantom scent of iron in his nose. He refuses to look at that and slowly inches towards the balcony. He slides open the balcony and skips over the patch. He looks down and sees the entangled wires still hanging over their balcony. He also spots a few drops of blood on the ledge below theirs. Jongin swallows and pulls back.

He decides to walk around the apartment to see if he can find anything—not that he can because he is sure the police were thorough. He still walks all over the floor, peeking at the empty kitchen and at the empty rooms. Nothing remarkable stands out so he sighs and heads back to the door. The guard hasn’t returned but Jongin can hear him still talking on his phone. Jongin makes a run for it and he only exhales when he is back in front of his apartment. 

He enters and he smiles when he notices Yukhei’s shoes in the foyer. He rushes in and finds Yukhei in the kitchen making tea, back turned to him and earphones jammed in. He sings to Duran Duran’s ‘A View To a Kill’ and Jongin scoffs. He carefully creeps up behind Yukhei and holds back his chuckle as he throws his arms around Yukhei.

Yukhei is thoroughly startled and his heartbeat skyrockets as he pulls out the earphones but then he hears the ever-familiar giggle and he calms down. He pinches Jongin’s upper arm and narrows his eyes, muttering, “Almost gave me a heart attack.” Jongin breaks out into a huge grin and kisses his jaw, so he is mollified as he says, “You should be glad you’re cute. Anyway, tea?”

Jongin nods and puts his chin on Yukhei’s shoulder, watching him add the tea leaves into the pot. Yukhei suddenly asks, “Where were you? Your bag was in the bedroom. Did you go upstairs?”

Jongin gasps, stepping back and asking, “How?”

Yukhei turns around and his eyebrows dance as he says, “You ain’t slick, my love. I know you’d be curious, we’re Kindaichi fans after all!” He puts the pot and cups on trays and walks towards the living room, still talking, “So, did you see anything?”

Jongin shakes his head. He grabs the jar of honey and follows his fiance. They sit down on the floor (yet to buy that couch) and Jongin says, “The apartment is empty, completely, not even any kitchen appliances, not even a fridge.”

“Hmm, so it’s for sale and not for rent, then? I mean, you’d expect a fridge at least when you rent a place,” Yukhei comments as he pours the tea.

Jongin adds honey in both cups. He realises from the scent that Yukhei had pulled out the lemon balm tea, something he drinks when he is tired. He inches closer, their knees are touching when he softly asks, “Tough day at work?”

Yukhei smiles a little, “Just a new client, and I already had three for the day. One of them cancelled, thankfully, but my new one was a bit tough to figure out.”

Jongin’s heart clenches in worry. He knows Yukhei’s popularity in his industry is both a blessing and a curse. He puts his head on Yukhei’s shoulder, throws his arms around him and pouts, “Your manager is so unfair. He should know you can’t take them all!”

Yukhei chuckles, “Baobei, the money’s good. How can he refuse?” He grabs a cup and says, “Plus, this client is nice. He works at some bank and is very, very rich but doesn’t quite have that air around him. I got to know him a little. He is apparently kind of married?” He laughs as he remembers, “I was so surprised by that answer and he could see it on my face! He explained his husband is trying to divorce him but he still wants another chance. I felt bad, he really looked remorseful.”

Jongin’s breath quickens and his heartbeat rises as he starts to wonder. He swallows, removes himself from Yukhei as he picks up his cup. He blows on the steam and asks, “Oh? That sounds rather sad. What’s his name?”

“Wonshik, Kim Wonshik,” Yukhei says and sips on his tea. “I think he is about your age? He has awful stamina though. I think I will have to suggest going to a dietician or nutritionist first.” 

Jongin tries to push down the panic now bubbling in his stomach. He feels cold sweat break on his nape and the familiar guilt starts clawing at his chest. He should say it, he should tell Yukhei _everything_. Yukhei loves him so, so much—he will understand, right?

Jongin takes a deep breath and he opens his mouth but his words are taken away when the doorbell rings. Yukhei swivels his head, frowning a little but Jongin beats him to it and says, “I’ll get it.”

Jongin rushes towards the door and checks the security camera and finds Junmyeon waiting on the other end of the door. Jongin unlocks the latch and the lock, smiling, “Hello, hyung.”

Junmyeon smiles, “Hi, there. How are you and Yukhei now?”

Jongin smiles, scratching his neck, “We’re okay, I guess.”

Junmyeon chuckles, “That’s good to hear.” He clasps his hands and says, “I’m sorry to bother you two but we’re having a meeting on the ground floor, just to discuss what happens next and all. It would be good to meet the other people too, if that’s okay with you and Yukhei?”

Jongin nods; Yukhei walks up behind him and says, “Sure, hyung, show us the way.”

A few seconds later, Junmyeon takes them to the ground floor. They walk towards the back of the building and as Jongin walks, he notices one of the offices is unlocked. He peeks inside as Junmyeon and Yukhei walk before him, talking about some new diet fad. Is this Jongho’s cabin? Maybe, he would need to come here later…

The meeting room is at the end of the corridor and Junmyeon knocks before opening it. All fourteen people living in this building are here. Jongin does not know anyone besides their next-door neighbour Kim Jungwoo, who immediately beelines for Yukhei and says, “Ah! Yukhei, so nice to see you again!”

Like an eyelash in your eye, Jongin finds Jungwoo’s presence equally bothersome. The guy is perhaps a year or so older than Yukhei and the last time they met, Jongin remembers how he only got a cursory glance and then Yukhei got a smile. Jungwoo ceaselessly flirted on and Yukhei was, as usual, oblivious. Jongin feels annoyed again and Junmyeon scoffs, moving closer and says under his breath, “Don’t mind him. He tries on Yifan as well. He has a very decided thing for tall men.”

Jongin raises an eyebrow and mutters, “I don’t like him much.”

Junmyeon nods, “Neither do I. But Yifan and Yukhei aren’t the only ones he tries to bat his eyelashes at.” He suddenly laughs, mirthlessly, “Oh god, I think even the caretaker wasn’t spared.”

Jongin lips part a little in surprise at this information and he notes this knowledge down in his head, even though he does not know why. He looks at Jungwoo, who pretends to be interested as Yukhei talks about some new diet fad. Jungwoo looks inherently harmless—he has a soft, round face, a sweet smile and wide, puppy-bright eyes. If it were not for how shamelessly he tries with a taken man, Jongin would think he was a hundred per cent innocent. 

Junmyeon, meanwhile, tries to get his attention. He puts his hand on Jongin’s arm and says, “Would you like to meet the others?”

Jongin nods and Junmyeon takes him around the room. Of the fourteen units that are occupied, most of them are here. He meets Kim Taeyeon first, a woman a little older than him dressed in a loose black dress and stark, deep red lipstick. She doesn’t smile much at him but she doesn’t look very hostile either. Then he meets Lee Chaerin, a married woman who tutors young kids in English. She is warm and smiles widely, welcoming Jongin and then apologising about the murder. Then he meets Wang Yibo, a quiet, unassuming college student who was living on his own. Jongin briefly wonders how rich his parents could be—but then corrects himself, for all he knows the kid has a part-time job to support himself. Next, he meets Nakamoto Yuta, who feels vaguely familiar to him and to his surprise, Yuta recognises him from his YouTube channel and gushes for a moment at how big of a fan he is. Next, Junmyeon takes him to meet Lee Sunmi, who again, feels vaguely familiar to him. She is dressed in luxury brands from head to toe and seemed kind of nervous. Junmyeon asks her about her husband and she says he is out of town for business. Next, he meets a couple, Kim Seokjin and Park Chanyeol, who had moved in some weeks before he and Yukhei did. Junmyeon then takes him towards three young men huddled over the refreshment table, Han Sanghyuk, Na Jaemin and Kim Jongdae, who split apart in surprise when Jongin approaches. Jongin finds that strange but doesn’t say anything. He learns they all live on different floors but often hang out since they are alumni of the same high school. Then, he meets Hirai Momo, minus her husband. She seems to be close to Junmyeon and starts whining about how her husband hates coming to these meetings. Junmyeon sighs and complains about Yifan in the same way. Lastly, they meet the four women sharing one apartment—Bae Joohyun, Kim Yerim, Jennie Kim and Park Sooyoung. Apparently, they live in the flat below Jongin and Yukhei’s. 

“Alright,” Taeyeon calls out, “Everyone, sit down. We have some things to discuss, and firstly among them, we need to appoint an interim caretaker till the new one can come.” When everyone takes their seat, she smiles at Jongdae, “Would you, Jongdae-sshi? After all, you were the closest thing to a best friend Bong Jongho had.”

Jongin and Yukhei share a look at that. Then they turn their heads towards Jongdae, who looked decidedly apprehensive as he swallows and widens his eyes slightly before nodding his head.


	3. THREE

Jongdae has not been able to sleep since Jongho’s death. It is not because he missed the man—they were never the “best friends” everyone assumes them to be—it is because he shared a secret with the man, a horrible secret. He sighs as he sits up on the bed, watching the sun ascend again through the gap in the curtains. Another sleepless night, another day of drinking coffee and energy drinks to stay awake.

He gets ready for work and skips breakfast, thinking he will get something to eat later. He works at one of the biggest entertainment companies as a vocal coach and he knows he should care for his appearance but he cannot bring himself to. He gets to the elevator to get to the basement parking. The doors open on the second floor and Kim Taeyeon walks in, smiling and with a massive trash bag in hand. Jongdae gives her a tight-lipped smile. He can’t say he likes this woman much. Everyone has been looking at him strangely after she let out that comment a week ago.

“Are you alright, mister Kim? You look like you haven’t been sleeping well,” Taeyeon says.

Jongdae doesn’t really want to answer, so he nods curtly. The doors open and they walk out. Taeyeon heads for the garbage station and he walks up to his car. He is about to unlock the door when he realises there is someone inside. He closes in and to his surprise, he finds that someone to be Jaemin and he has his eyes closed. Jongdae gets confused; why would Jaemin sleep inside his car? He unlocks the door to the passenger side and as soon as he does, Jaemin’s body falls sideways and that’s when he sees the blood on his neck and dripping down from the seat. Jongdae shouts, which brings Taeyeon rushing over, who gasps loudly. Jongdae looks at her and says, “Please, please call the cops!”

Taeyeon pushes her hand in her dress to grab her mobile phone but she can’t help but wonder. She has a bad habit of sometimes going through people’s trash. She thinks about the thing she found in Jaemin’s trash a week ago. 

The discovery of Jaemin’s body causes quite the problem for the inhabitants in the complex. The detectives, Detective Inspector Jung Taekwoon and Sergeant Moon Byuli, return to the complex and they both seem surprised that a murder happened again. On top of that, all the inhabitants are asked to not leave and more police show up around the complex. Junmyeon watches them from the living room and groans as he closes the curtains. He turns around finds Yukhei looking at him, he shrugs, “There are cops everywhere. I really needed to go to work today.”

Yukhei nods, “So did I, gege.”

Jongin doesn’t have classes on Tuesday, so it was an off day for him anyway. He smiles a little at his husband’s pout and sits down beside him, coffee tray in hand. Yifan follows with a tray filled with food. They are all camped out in the Kim-Wu household. The children are here too, aware that something serious is happening even if they don’t know everything. They are quiet as they draw in their notebooks, sprawled across the living room floor. Yukhei has joined them too.

Junmyeon sits down beside his husband and puts his head on Yifan’s shoulder. He frowns, “Do you think they will question us too?”

Jongin takes a cup and replies, “They might.”

Yukhei clicks his tongue, “But why? It happened in the basement, no one could have heard anything.”

Yifan sips his coffee and nods, “True. There would be no way anyone could hear or see anything.”

Jongin takes a hodeok and says, “But hyung, the main gates are closed at night and no one without the key can enter, so the detectives might think it was one of us.”

Junmyeon and Yifan both sit up straight and widen their eyes as they come to the same conclusion. Yifan whistles, “Shit, didn’t think about that.”

Junmyeon leans forward, “But who would do, hurt Jaemin like that? He was a nice boy.”

Jaehyun raises his head and pouts, “Is Jaemin gege hurt appa?”

Yifan and Junmyeon share a look before the former gets down to kneel in front of his son. He pulls the child close to him and says, “Jae, he is very hurt, I’m sorry.”

Jaehyun’s eyes well up and his sister now realises something is wrong with her brother. Caiying pulls at Junmyeon’s pants and asks, “Will we not see him?”

Junmyeon sighs, “I don’t think so, my baby.”

Jaehyun softly sniffles into his dad’s chest. Yifan takes him to the twins’ room and Caiying silently follows them. Junmyeon watches them go and he explains, “Jaemin would babysit the kids often. They loved him.”

Yukhei and Jongin all this while have been sitting awkwardly, feeling like they are intruding upon something private. They both get startled a little but they nod with Yukhei saying, “It’s awful. They’re too young to understand.”

Junmyeon nods, smiling a little, “They are.” Then his smile falls as he mutters, “Honestly, I thought this was a safe neighbourhood.”

“Baobei,” Yifan returns, “It’s not like we can leave suddenly. We’re still paying the mortgage after all.”

Jongin softly chuckles, “We’re all in the same boat here, really.”

Yukhei sighs and throws his arm around Jongin, “We really thought this was a nice place to start our lives.”

Junmyeon smiles, softer now, “We’ve been here for two years now and it was a dream.” He sighs and leans into Yifan, “I don’t understand why this is happening, really.”

When evening rolls by, everyone has been interrogated, including Jongin, Yukhei, Junmyeon and Yifan. But to everyone’s surprise, when the DI and sergeant leave, they all watch them escorting Jongdae to their car. None of the inhabitants can brush it aside and they mill about in the lobby, talking. Taeyeon is the first to quip, “I was there, you know, I saw Jongdae open his car and shout. I called the cops.”

Yuta says, waving his hands, “But that doesn’t mean that he killed Jaemin, right? I mean, why would he? They were friends.” He eyes Sanghyuk, who has been deathly quiet and looking mildly lost ever since the events of the morning began. 

Taeyeon tilts her head and asks, “I heard they interrogated you for almost thirty minutes.”

Yuta flushes and he crosses his arms, spluttering, “I don’t need to tell you why.” His eyes flit sideways and Jongin follows it, surprised where Yuta’s gaze lands on.

Momo and Heechul are here too and the latter says, “Yeah, I don’t believe Jongdae could harm anyone. He is a good person.”

Taeyeon smirks, “A good person isn’t an indicator of a murderer now, is it?”

Heechul has a retort on the tip of his tongue but Momo stops him by putting a hand over his chest. She glares at Taeyeon as she says, “You seem to be enjoying yourself.”

Taeyeon narrows her eyes and she is about to say something when Sooyoung shouts, “Oh, stop it will you two!”

Taeyeon and Momo turn their heads to look at the younger woman. Sooyoung looks close to hyperventilating, her face ashen as she takes huge gulps of air. Jennie and Joohyun swoop in and putting their arms around her take her towards the elevator. Yerim follows but she explains, “Sooyoung and Jaemin were friends. She was the last to see him at the bus stop, so she’s kind of, well, upset.” 

As Yerim leaves, Jongin whispers to himself, “He was last seen at the bus stop?”

Yukhei hears him. He leans closer and frowns, “What are you thinking?”

Jongin steps aside from the crowd and starts walking towards the back. Yukhei joins him and Jongin says, “Why was he at the bus stop? And if he wasn’t here, then how did he end up getting killed inside Jongdae’s car?”

Yukhei nods, “Yes, I was wondering the same. Why would the killer kill him in Jongdae’s car? And Sooyoung, her reaction…”

Jongin chuckles, “But before that, did you see how Yuta looked at Lee Sunmi?”

Yukhei shakes his head. He remembers the conversation and his eyes widen, “He was interrogated for some time, wasn’t he? And he wouldn’t say where he was!” He gasps, “I did notice how Sunmi was also nervous! You don’t think, do you?”

Jongin nods as they stop before the former caretaker’s office. “Of course, I do. There were love bites on her neck and as far as I know, her husband is still out of the country. I could be very wrong, but who knows?”

Yukhei nods and then he notices where they are. “Hey, why are we here by the way?”

Jongin says, “I wanted, uh,” he suddenly feels embarrassed. “I wanted to check something.”

Yukhei grins, “Kindaichi time?”

Jongin laughs, covering his mouth, “You’ve to stop saying that!”

They enter the room and since the cops have been through here, they are not afraid to touch things. They look in drawers and shelves and don’t find anything too suspicious but then Yukhei finds something lodged between two drawers. He gasps, “Aha! Got it!”

Jongin turns around and finds Yukhei on the ground. He joins Yukhei and sees the latter with a burned diary in his hand. There is not much left of the diary but from whatever content they can read, they realise it belonged to Jongho. Jongin mutters, “Why did the cops not find it?”

Yukhei says, “They could have missed it. It was stuck between two drawers and the drawers are pretty rusted.”

Yukhei was flipping the pages when Jongin stops him. There is a page, still whole and it only has a note stuck to it, written in bold red letters:

_You will pay the price for what you did 6 years ago_

They share a look and Yukhei slowly says, “I think we need to take it to the cops, gege.”

Jongin slowly whispers, “Yeah, we do.”

They don’t need to go to the police station when Jung Taekwoon and Moon Byuli show up themselves, along with Jongdae the next morning. Taeyeon and Sunmi see them first and they start a ruckus about how the cops should not have let loose a murderer. The ruckus has everyone descend on the parking ground in front of the apartments. Yukhei was about to go to work when all of this happens, so he stays a while, trying to stop Sunmi and Taeyeon from jumping on Jongdae. He shouts, “Ladies! The cops wouldn’t let him go if he was guilty now, would they?”

Sunmi replies, “You don’t know that! He killed them both!”

Byuli groans, “I will say this once, there was nothing to tie him to the two deaths. On both days, he was at work and returned late, past the time of death. Now, if you create any more noise, I’ll arrest you both for obstructing justice.”

That quiets Sunmi and Taeyeon and they step aside to let the detectives in. Jongdae rushes towards the elevators and does not say anything. Yukhei lingers before jolting forward and shouting, “Detectives! Can I talk to you?”

Taekwoon and Byuli turn around and Yukhei grabs the diary from his bag. He did take it in the morning promising Jongin that he would go by police station before work. But his work is done if they are here themselves. He shows it to the cops and says, “Uh, we found this in the caretaker’s office.”

Byuli takes the diary with furrowed brows. “We?”

Yukhei gulps, “Uh, my fiance and I.”

Taekwoon peers into the diary and asks, “May I ask what you two were doing there?”

Yukhei starts blushing, “We were, uh,” he sighs and just decides to go with the truth, “Okay, we’re big mystery fans and a murder happening right under our nose made us too curious so we just wanted to look.”

Taekwoon crosses his arms and looks sort of furious as he says, “Mister Wong, I would suggest you and your fiance leave the investigating to us. But thank you for this.”

Yukhei nods his head furiously. The other, prettier detective throws him a particularly nasty look and marches off. The other follows with a small wave. Yukhei exhales in relief and rushes off, heading to the station. 

Two storeys over Yukhei, Joohyun pulls the curtains close and sighs inaudibly. First, they had to wake up to bloodstains on their balcony, then Sooyoung has herself locked in due to Jaemin’s death, Yeri has been rendered room-less and now sleeps in the living room. Yeri has a heart of gold but what Joohyun doesn’t get is why Sooyoung reacting the way she is.

A low humming brings her to the kitchen and she finds her girlfriend singing as she scrubs a large pan. Jennie turns around when she hears footsteps and smiles, “Hey, I thought you were not going to work today?”

Jooyhyun sighs, “No, changed my mind.” She pours herself a coffee and says, “I will go in a bit late. Seungwan can handle the first class.” She works as a science teacher at a high school and Jennie works as an air hostess. Currently, she doesn’t have a schedule and Joohyun is very happy to have her around so much but these murders just threw cold water on all their plans. Joohyun sits down by the counter and sips her coffee. Jennie finishes washing and walks up to Joohyun. She plants a kiss on Joohyun’s temple and says, “You look worried. Do you wanna talk?”

Joohyun nods; since Sooyoung is still inside and Yerim has left for college, she says, “Isn’t Sooyoung’s behaviour a little strange? I thought they were merely hi-hello acquaintances. It doesn’t make sense for her to react this way.” She looks at Jennie when she remembers, “Oh, I saw Jongdae, they let him go.”

Jennie sits down and says, “That’s not surprising. Jongdae oppa is a good one, I don’t think he would do anything like that.”

Joohyun hums; she has not interacted with Jongdae much so she cannot be sure but he never seemed that awful either or supremely suspicious like Sanghyuk or Yuta. She leans into Jennie, who throws her arm around Joohyun and murmurs, “Alright, unnie, get to work and I will go pick you up. Then, we can go out for dinner today, just you and me.”

Joohyun smiles, tilting her head. Jennie softly kisses her and Joohyun says, “I think I’d like that.”

Sooyoung, meanwhile, inside her room, sits up on her bed and chews her fingernails. The thing she saw Jaemin throwing away that day, she keeps thinking and thinking if that is what killed him. Or was it Taeyeon, who she saw going through the trash that night? She lies down on her bed and groans. She has to make up her mind, talk to _someone_. 

Byuli and Taekwoon returned to actually check on Park Chanyeol and Kim Seokjin, the two lovers who live together. They knock on their door and Chanyeol opens the door, shirt half-buttoned and with a tie around his neck. He blinks at the detectives, “Uh?”

Byuli asks, “Can we come in?”

Seokjin, who was also getting ready for work, calls out, “Who is it Yeollie?”

Chanyeol nods at the detectives and lets them in. Seokjin is packing his bag when the detectives enter and his eyes widen. Taekwoon does not beat around the bush and looks at Chanyeol, “You lied to us. You came home close to the time of death last to last night. You also lied about being in the office and your boyfriend here covered for you.”

Seokjin steps forward and laces his fingers through Chanyeol’s, “Detectives, it’s not what you think it is.”

Byuli puts her hands on her hips, “Then what is it? Why did both of you lie to us?”

Chanyeol groans and rubs his face, “It’s a long story.”

Taekwoon frowns as he says, “Well, we have time.”

Chanyeol and Seokjin’s apartment is on the same floor as Jongin and Yukhei’s. Jongin doesn’t need to go to the studio till three today, so he was at home, trying to finish this MR James story collection. He suddenly craved iced coffee and since he had not prepped beforehand for it, he decided to step out and get some from the cafe closeby. The moment he steps out, he sees the detectives ring the doorbell of the apartment of the two men. Jongin immediately ducks back and only leaves the door open slightly. He watches with increasing confusion as Chanyeol opens the door and lets them in. 

Jongin bites his lip. Why are the detectives here? Yukhei did text him a minute before how Jongdae is back. Are they here for either Seokjin or Chanyeol? Then, he remembers something.

Wasn’t Chanyeol late the night before yesterday? He remembers seeing Seokjin pacing the corridor…

_“Yukhei!” Jongin shouts and Yukhei halts. “Your wallet!”_

_Yukhei pats his pocket and grins, “Oh shit, right.”_

_Jongin just presses his lips and shakes his head. “Would have been something if you realised it at the counter.”_

_Yukhei takes it and bows, “Yes, thank you, thank you. What would I ever do without you?”_

_Jongin pinches his arm and hits the button for the elevator. “Probably stand in grocery shops wondering where your wallet went.”_

_The elevator arrives and Yukhei kisses Jongin’s cheek. “Then I’m glad to find you, gege.”_

_Yukhei gets into the elevator and Jongin feels his face getting hotter by the second. Yukhei waves at him as the door closes. Jongin walks back to their apartment and finds Kim Seokjin from 313 pacing the corridor. He looks stressed, so Jongin bows, asking, “Everything okay, Seokjin-sshi?”_

_Seokjin jumps a little but he quickly collects himself and says, smiling, “No, no, just waiting for my boyfriend. He’s never this late.”_

_Jongin nods, scrambling in his head for a reply. “I’m sure he will be here soon. I take his office is on the other side, right? Traffic usually gets crazier at night.”_

_Seokjin nods, rubbing his nape. “Yeah, you’re right.” He chuckles, “I think I’ll call him again. Thank you Kim Jongin-sshi, goodnight.”_

_“Goodnight.”_

_Seokjin enters his flat and Jongin enters his. He does not know much about this couple though he learned from Junmyeon that Chanyeol works in some multinational corporation, has a really expensive car and Seokjin works as a head chef at some posh restaurant. He remembers Junmyeon joking how their paycheck combined can probably have them buying this whole floor but they are only here as renters. But Jongin now realises, they don’t interact much with the others as well. Is this some sort of class divide?_

Jongin is now certain that it is not a class divide. Those two are hiding something. He remembers how Seokjin looked that night. He was terrified. 


	4. FOUR

Yukhei pays the bill for their iced tea and cake as he says, “How was work today, gege?”

Jongin sighs and takes the tray of their food, “Ugh, we have to work with this new boy group. They are all pretty green and their flexibility is shit. We’re literally starting from scratch.”

They walk towards the seats by the window and Yukhei pulls Jongin in his arms and kisses the top of his head, smiling, “It’s okay. You aren’t the best in your field for nothing!”

Jongin feels his cheeks heating up as he snuggles closer and says, “Well, we’re a team. It’s not just me.”

Yukhei curls his fingers under Jongin’s chin and tilts his face up, grinning as he winks, “But you’re also Kim Kai, voted South Korea’s sexiest dancer.”

Jongin takes a deep breath and tries to fight the heat blooming across his face. He tucks his face into Yukhei’s chest and groans, “Ugh, when will you let that die?” There was some online poll last year of all the famous choreographers and Jongin won for some reason. Yukhei often reminds him though he would _love_ to forget. The number of thirsty DMs on his social media was a bit much. 

Yukhei tightens his hold and laughs, “Never!”

Jongin whines but he suddenly stops when he sees a black Rolls Royce passing in front of them. They are sitting facing the road and Jongin raises his head a little, his heart stuttering. He knows Wonshik is not the only one with a black Rolls Royce in the city but this nagging thought remains. He quickly grabs his glass of iced strawberry tea to pretend he was only detaching himself to grab his drink. Yukhei loosens his hold and cuts into his vanilla tea cake, completely unaware of the brief moment of panic Jongin went through. 

Yukhei suddenly stops chewing, and with a mouthful of food says, “Hey, isn’t that Jongdae-sshi?”

Jongin looks at the direction Yukhei is looking and finds Jongdae walking towards the cafe. This small, cosy coffee shop is close to their apartment complex and Jongin has often run into other occupants. Jongdae spots them and Yukhei breaks out into a grin and waves his hand. Jongdae struggles to smile and waves back weakly. He enters the shop and goes towards the counter. As they make his order, he walks up to the couple and Yukhei points at the empty seat beside them, “Sit down, gege. Are you grabbing an after-work drink too?”

Jongdae grins as he sits down. Jongin thinks he kind of looks like a cat when he does that. “Yes, yes I am. I quite like the hot chocolate they make here.”

They make small talk and Jongdae is ready to head back home when he gets his order. He waves goodbye and is about to leave when he turns back and says, “Oh, I forgot to mention, we have a committee meeting today. We will appoint the new chairman.”

Jongin frowns, “Are you resigning?”

Jongdae nods, “Yeah, I don’t think I can do it. And we’re also getting a new caretaker, so he’s gonna get introduced too.”

Yukhei and Jongin nod and Jongdae leaves. Yukhei sips his iced Earl Grey and says, “Interesting turn of events. Who do you think they will nominate?”

Jongin shrugs, “I’d say Kim Heechul-sshi and Yifan hyung are good candidates. Bae Joohyun-sshi too.”

Jongin’s guesses turn out mostly accurate when they reach the meeting room a couple of hours later. Yifan, Heechul, Taeyeon and Joohyun are nominated. The occupants vote by writing the name of their choice in pieces of paper and drop it in a box. Jongdae and Sanghyuk sit down at a corner to count and the others mill about, nibbling at the snacks Junmyeon and Jennie had bought. Jongin takes a look around the room and sees the mysterious Wang Yibo is also in attendance. Chanyeol is here as well, looking a bit under the weather perhaps. Jongin wonders again why the cops visited him two days ago. 

Junmyeon and Yifan seem to be close to the group of women. Jongin joins them as Junmyeon asks, “How’s Sooyoung? I saw her leave for college today and the poor girl almost walked into a pole.”

Jennie shrugs, her smile waning a bit. “I don’t know Junmyeon oppa. We’re trying to get her to talk as well but she just avoids us, eats her dinner in her room.”

Joohyun sighs, “I wish we knew how to make her talk.”

Jongin asks, “How did Jaemin and Sooyoung know each other? Did they go to the same college?”

Jennie shakes her head, “Not really. Jaemin was a friend of a friend. Sooyoung had no idea Jaemin lived here and Jaemin didn’t know Sooyoung lived here either. I was with her when they both recognised each other. Jaemin’s friend was Sooyoung’s classmate, so often, they would walk to the bus stop together or Sooyoung would tell us how Jaemin showed up at their drinks’ night.”

Joohyun smiles bitterly, “I used to think she had a crush on him, even teased her about it. Maybe, she _did_ have feelings for the boy.”

They talk some more before Sanghyuk loudly says, “Okay, we have the results.” Everyone huddles closer and Sanghyuk announces, “Total votes collected are seventeen. I will say least to most, so Kim Taeyeon got two votes, Bae Joohyun got three votes, Wu Yifan got four votes and Kim Heechul got eight votes.” Momo claps as Sanghyuk smiles, “Kim Heechul wins.”

Heechul nods, smiling and looking slightly uncomfortable. Momo shakes her head and chuckles, “He’s going to do a good job, I promise that.” Everyone laughs at that except Taeyeon and Sunmi. Jongin gets who gave her those two votes—since the nominees were allowed to write their own names, Jongin is sure it was only Taeyeon and Sunmi. He gave his vote to Yifan but looking at the sheer relief on the older man’s face, Jongin is sure Yifan is glad he didn’t win. Junmyeon reprimands his husband’s obvious glee by lightly punching his forearm. Yifan rearranges his face to look impassive but the whole thing makes Jongin laugh a little. He knows the older couple has been together for more than a decade now and he smiles to himself as he links his elbow with Yukhei’s. He couldn’t get that in his first try, but he wants to get it right with his second chance. Yukhei says something to Heechul who laughs sheepishly and as Jongin watches Yukhei smile brightly, making even Taeyeon crack a smile, Jongin feels guilty again of his lie.

There is a knock on the door and Jongdae gets to his feet. He says, “Right, our new caretaker is here. I thought getting the voting out of the way before I can introduce him would be the best way to do this.” He opens the door and continues, “Everyone meet Byun Baekhyun.”

A man in his late thirties enters the room and his appearance does create quite the waves. His hair is pinkish-orange and he even has eyeliner on. In contrast to the last caretaker, Baekhyun is a surprise. He bows and grins, “Nice to meet all of you!” He looks at all of them but his gaze lingers for half a second longer on Taeyeon—Yukhei notices that.

A round of introductions follows and they learn Baekhyun works as a writer for lifestyle brands and he took the job mostly because he gets to live rent-free. He doesn’t mention the murders, which Jongin thinks is strange. He does know how he got this job, right?

They all leave soon afterwards and since they are only two lifts, everyone takes their turn. Chanyeol ends up taking the ride with Jongin and Yukhei since they were the last ones. Jongin carefully asks, “Is Seokjin-sshi not home?”

Chanyeol nods as he loosens the tie around his neck. “He has some party he’s catering at. He will probably waltz in really late with all the tasty leftovers!”

Yukhei chuckles, “Ah, you must eat really well, then?” He wraps an arm around Jongin and says, “Gege and I know to make, like, four and a half dishes between us.” 

Chanyeol laughs but Jongin hears the strain in it and as he looks closer, he notices there are beads of sweat clinging onto Chanyeol’s temple. He asks, “Are you okay Chanyeol-sshi?”

Chanyeol tries to laugh it off again but he staggers and almost hits the floor but Yukhei catches him. The doors open and Jongin steps out first, saying, “Chanyeol-sshi, maybe stay with us till Seokjin returns, you don’t look too well.”

Chanyeol tries to refuse but Yukhei doesn’t let him, “It’s okay, you’re literally burning up right now. Please let us help you. Who knows if you suddenly fall and hurt yourself in your apartment alone?”

Jongin nods along and takes Chanyeol’s other arm around his shoulder and they slowly walk to their apartment. Jongin unlocks it and Yukhei helps Chanyeol lie down on their couch (they finally bought it three days ago). Jongin ends up brushing Chanyeol’s neck as he helps take the jacket off and he gasps, “Yukhei! He has a bad fever!”

Yukhei frowns as he puts a cushion under Chanyeol’s head. He grabs the throw on their other chair and drapes it over Chanyeol, who has his eyes closed and his breathing deeply. He eyes the bag Chanyeol was carrying and he says, “Should we call Seokjin-sshi?”

Jongin chews his thumbnail and nods, “I think we should. He is at work, but Chanyeol-sshi looks serious. I will get the ice pack.” Jongin runs into the kitchen and returns with the pack. He places it on Chanyeol’s forehead. He watches Yukhei pull out a phone from the bag and whispering apologies as he uses a half-unconscious Chanyeol’s thumb to unlock it. 

It seems Seokjin had called him some time ago, so Yukhei didn’t have to dig through the contacts to find his name. The sparkling hearts around Seokjin’s name makes Yukhei smile for a second. The call gets picked up within seconds and Seokjin says, “Oh, mister busy man finally found the time to call me back, huh?”

Yukhei hesitates a little before speaking, “Uh, sorry, Seokjin-sshi, this is Yukhei from unit three one two. Chanyeol-sshi collapsed on the lift, so he’s in our apartment now. He’s really very sick right now, we’re trying to get his temperature down in the meantime.”

Seokjin gasps and begins panting slightly, “Please, please take care of him, I’m leaving now!”

The call is disconnected and Jongin raises an eyebrow in question. Yukhei answers, “He’ll be here soon, he said he’s leaving.” Jongin nods and touches Chanyeol’s forehead. The ice pack is helping but his face is still flushed and he seems to be still breathing heavily. He mutters, “Should we give him paracetamol?”

Yukhei asks, “But what if he hasn’t eaten anything before this?”

Jongin shakes his head, “I saw him eat two cookies at the meeting. It is something rather than nothing.”

Yukhei looks at Jongin, nodding, “Then, give him the tablet with the lower strength, just in case.”

Jongin nods and walks to their bedroom to grab the medicine box. He takes the low strength of paracetamol. He also grabs water from the kitchen and tells Yukhei, “Get him some tea, won’t you? The lemon balm one.” Yukhei leaves to do so and Jongin kneels in front of Chanyeol and gently whispers, “Hey, Chanyeol, can you take this?”

Chanyeol peels his eyes open a little and he tries to lift himself up. Jongin helps and keeps him upright as he passes the tablet and then the water. Chanyeol gulps them down and falls back on the couch again. Jongin readjusts the ice pack again and juts his lower lip out. He wonders what bought this one and how Chanyeol felt assured enough to leave for work. Could this be a result of the stress the cops brought to their house that day?

Chanyeol pulls the throw closer around him and Jongin understands he is probably shivering. He dips into the bedroom to grab a blanket. When he returns, he finds Yukhei kneeling before Chanyeol and gently muttering. Jongin comes closer and understands Chanyeol is taking Jin’s name repeatedly and Yukhei is patting his back and saying, “He’ll be here soon, gege, he will be here soon, don’t worry.”

Chanyeol tries to sit up to drink the tea Yukhei has got him. Jongin rushes forward to help him and drapes the thicker blanket around his shoulders. Chanyeol shakily says, “I’m so sorry, I’m bothering you two so much.”

Yukhei and Jongin both chuckle at the same time and the latter says, “It’s not a problem. Can you drink your tea? It might make you feel better.”

Chanyeol nods and Yukhei helps him get the cup. Yukhei didn’t make a lot of it, so Chanyeol takes small sips and finishes it. He lies back down again and sighs a little, perhaps in contentment. Yukhei knows how magical lemon balm feels. Jongin takes the cup back to the kitchen and Yukhei stays watch.

Sometime later, the doorbell rings. Yukhei gets it and Seokjin is pale and breathing heavily as he asks, “Hi, is he—”

Yukhei nods, stepping aside, “Yep, he’s asleep but he seems alright now.”

Seokjin takes his shoes off and walks in. He kneels in front of Chanyeol’s unconscious form and mutters, “Oh, you idiot.”

Jongin was nearby so he asks, “Was he sick before leaving for work too? My idiot does the same at times.” Yukhei pouts at the comment and Seokjin smiles. Jongin continues, “Is he under a lot of stress, Seokjin-sshi? I saw the cops at your apartment that day.”

Seokjin widens his eyes slightly and then he sighs deeply. He cards his fingers through Chanyeol’s hair and says, “They came to ask where Chanyeol was that night. Chanyeol lied about staying in his office but he actually went to see his mother, who’s in the hospital.”

Jongin is confused, so he asks, “But why lie about that?”

Seokjin smiles a little, “Tell me, have you heard about the chaebol families of Park Jungsoo and Kim Jonghyun?” Jongin nods and Seokjin looks at him, still smiling but his eyes are sad, “Chanyeol is the heir of the Park family and I’m from the Kim family.”

Both Yukhei and Jongin gasp. They know about the families Seokjin mentioned. They are both four-generation chaebols with their hands in so many pies that no one is actually sure how many companies they own and are rich enough to perhaps buy countries. But what makes these families stand apart from the rest is the news that shook the whole country two decades ago. There have been documentaries on it, there have been fictionalised shows and movies about it. 

Twenty years ago, a male member from the Kim family had his eyes on one of the married female members of the Park family. They fell for each other but it didn’t end well. The husband got to know and he killed the Kim member in the most horrific of ways. The lady in question killed herself. The court case dragged for months, almost three years and the longer it dragged the more the animosity increased between the two families. The bad blood remained and since the many people who witnessed the chaos are still alive, the enmity remains. 

Seokjin says, “So, you can imagine how it went down when our families got to know we had fallen for each other. I was disinherited on spot and Chanyeol was going to get kicked out too, but his mother resisted.” He sighs again and cups Chanyeol’s face, “Now, his mother is sick—cancer, last stage. She might not live for long and since he’s still secretly in touch with his older sister, he heard that the family doesn’t want him around the last days of his mother. It has been hurting him a lot.” He swallows and tries to hold back his sob, “I mean, I can’t even bring myself to imagine the pain he’s feeling. And he tries to not talk about it, just smiling it away and just,” he gazes at nothing as he finishes, “Why is this so wrong for them?”

Jongin and Yukhei don’t say anything but they both feel awful at hearing their story. This explains why Seokjin and Chanyeol keep to themselves. It explains why Chanyeol lied because he probably didn’t want anyone else to know he went to see his dying mother. Seokjin quietly sobs and Yukhei kneels beside him, pressing his hand on Seokjin’s shoulder. Jongin chews his lip and now he just feels even more awful for poking his nose where it didn’t belong.

Seokjin’s quiet sobs wake Chanyeol up and the first thing he sees is his boyfriend’s red eyes and nose and he says, rasping, “Oh my god, you drama queen, I’m not dead yet.”

Seokjin stops crying and lightly swats at Chanyeol’s shoulder. “You dumb, giant idiot. I told you to not leave the house today!” Chanyeol slowly gets up, Seokjin helps and Jongin gestures at Yukhei. Yukhei and Jongin leave the couple alone for a moment, knowing they need privacy and they have intruded enough. 

Seokjin sits down beside Chanyeol and the latter leans into him. Chanyeol likes how Seokjin smells like chocolate and hazelnuts right now and he almost purrs as Seokjin cards his fingers through his hair. Seokjin drops a kiss on Chanyeol’s forehead and asks, “How are you feeling now?”

Chanyeol mumbles, “The tea and medicine did make me feel the tiniest bit better. But the world is still kinda dancing around me.”

Seokjin puts both his arms around Chanyeol and rocks him back and forth, “I’ll make some soup, then I’m gonna call your office and tell them you’re taking the next three days off.”

Chanyeol protests, jutting his lips out and frowning up at Seokjin, “Jin, I can’t skip out on work. Three days is a bit much.”

Seokjin rolls his eyes and puts up two fingers, “Fine, two then and this is non-negotiable.” 

Chanyeol kisses Seokjin’s chin and smiles, “Okay, mother goose, I accept the terms.”

Seokjin laughs and kisses Chanyeol’s nose. “Okay!” He looks around and finds their hosts missing, “We need to thank Jongin and Yukhei and take you home.” He calls out, “Jongin-sshi?”

Jongin and Yukhei pop out from their bedroom and the former smiles, “Yes, Seokjin-sshi?”

Seokjin giggles, “Please call me Seokjin.”

Jongin laughs, “Then call me just Jongin!”

Seokjin and Chanyeol then thank the couple and Jongin hovers by the door till he sees the other two get inside their apartment. Seokjin sends him a small wave and a smile as he shuts the door. 

Jongin returns to the living room and finds Yukhei furiously scribbling in a notebook. He sits down, the food delivery app open on his phone as he asks, “So, what do you want for dinner? I’ve been thinking about that chicken tikka masala from that Indian restaurant for a while now.” 

Yukhei answers distractedly, “Anything you want, babe.”

Jongin presses his lips and decides to take a peek over Yukhei’s shoulder. He sees a mess of words on the white pages in black and blue ink. Jongin realises Yukhei is writing down notes about the murders. He slowly asks, “What are you doing?”

Yukhei says, tapping his pen against the margin, “We can take out Seokjin and Chanyeol out of the list. They had only moved in a few days before us and since they shared their backgrounds with us, it means the cops know and it can be easily checked. I’m certain they have no links with Jongho and Jaemin.”

Jongin points at the crossed-out names of Yifan and Junmyeon and widens his eyes, “You were suspecting them too?” 

Yukhei does look a bit guilty as he says, “Okay, look, I hardly knew them on the first day after the murder. They’re harmless.”

Jongin shakes his head. He looks at the other names and finds Jungwoo’s name. He frowns, “Did you notice Jungwoo at the meeting?”

“Yeah, he was awfully quiet, wasn’t he?” Yukhei smirks, “I know how he bothers you.” He winks when Jongin parts his lips in surprise, “I’m not that oblivious, you know. I know he flirts with me.” Yukhei curls his fingers under Jongin’s chin and his voice drops to a sultry whisper as he says, “But, he doesn’t understand, you’re the only for me, gege.” His other hand comes to rest on Jongin’s thigh. “All yours, gege.”

Jongin swallows thickly; Yukhei’s hooded gaze and his honey-thick voice suddenly make his heart race and he leans closer, eager to kiss that wicked grin off his fiance’s face. But before their lips could even touch, an unexpected, loud noise has them jump apart.

Yukhei looks behind him and listens to the song blaring loudly from the apartment beside theirs, “Isn’t that One Night in Bangkok by Murray Head?”

The sound of glass shattering follows and Jongin frowns as he slowly gets to his feet, “It’s coming from Jungwoo’s apartment, Yukhei.”

They share a look and within seconds, they are both out of their apartment and in front of Jungwoo’s apartment. Jongin knocks, shouting, “Jungwoo-sshi, are you okay?”

His shout brings Junmyeon out of his apartment and he asks, “Is everything okay? We heard the music go off too.” Yifan too stands behind his husband, the same look of confusion on both of their faces. 

Yukhei shrugs, “We don’t know and he’s not answering. We heard things breaking.”

“Maybe he fell down or something,” Junmyeon comes forward. “Let’s break the door.”

Yukhei and Jongin agree; Junmyeon and Yukhei put their shoulders to the door and with a couple of heaves, the door breaks open. They all stumble in and Jongin is the first to shout as he sees the broken coffee table and Jungwoo draped over it, a gash across his neck where blood drips from.


	5. FIVE

They all huddle in the corridor—Jongin, Yukhei, Junmyeon, Yifan and the others who joined after they heard the door breaking, the music and Jongin’s shout. Jongin takes his time looking at everyone who came running from downstairs or upstairs—Taeyeon looks excited and she is doing a bad job of hiding it, Baekhyun seems nonchalant as he stands by Taeyeon and Jongin wonders why he isn’t more worried about this (his feeling of something odd about Baekhyun becomes more prominent). Sunmi and Chaerin stand in a corner, whispering among themselves. Lastly, Jongin was surprised to see Yibo amidst them, looking the tiniest bit lost as he looks around. Seokjin popped his head once and Yukhei explained the chaos the former saw in hushed whispers. 

The police officers and the forensics team collect evidence inside Jungwoo's apartment. They are all in bunny suits and are running to and fro from the apartment. Jungwoo’s body had been taken away some time ago and Sunmi had gasped loudly when she saw the body bag. Jongin had fallen quiet after that and his brain started to whir.

He doesn’t know who else noticed, but he did see something that is bothering him. He looks at the open door to their apartment and looks again at the people in the corridor. He knows, he _knows_ now the killer is among the people here...but _who_?

Byuli and Taekwoon come out from the room and take their masks and gloves off. Taekwoon puts his hands on his hips and says, “Alright, I need a statement from those who broke into the apartment first. The rest, please go back to your individual apartments, we will talk to you soon.”

Sunmi and Chaerin head upstairs while Baekhyun and Taeyeon go down. Yibo, however, stays there and fidgets with the straps of his backpack. He clears his throat and asks, “Um, can you take my statement now? I need to go to my part-time job.”

Byuli frowns a little but she slowly nods her head. “Okay, alright.” She looks at Taekwoon and points at Jongin and Yukhei, “You can start with these four, first.”

Yukhei throws Jongin a worried glance and moves to usher Yifan, Junmyeon and Taekwoon into the apartment. Jongin leaves the door open and stares at it for a while—wasn’t it wide open when they left their apartment? It was ajar when they returned. As Yukhei sits down on the couch, he eyes their balcony and his breath catch in his lungs.

The door to their balcony remains unlocked when they are in the house and they lock it when they are about to go to bed. The door, right now, is locked from the inside and Jongin remembers, when Yukhei and he left the living room to give Seokjin and Chanyeol privacy, they had walked into the balcony and Yukhei had _not_ locked the door when they had left it.

Junmyeon, Yifan, Yukhei and Taekwoon talk as Jongin walks towards the balcony. He unlocks it and his doubts are proven right when he opens the door and sees the socks Yukhei hung up in the morning on the floor, sprawled on the tiles as if something had knocked into the drying rack. Someone was here.

“Gege?” Yukhei asks, “What’s wrong?”

Jongin turns his head around, his eyes wide as he says, “I, I had noticed how the door to Jungwoo’s balcony was wide open. And we had left this door,” he points to the lock, “Unlocked, also our apartment unlocked. The gap between the two balconies is nonexistent."

Taekwoon and Yukhei get to their feet when they both understand what Jongin is trying to say. Yukhei slowly says, “Are you saying that whoever killed Jungwoo, we missed them only by a fraction of a second because they escaped through Jungwoo’s balcony and then came over here, got out through our apartment and mixed with the crowd?”

Jongin nods, Junmyeon gasps loudly, Yifan gapes like a fish; Taekwoon rubs his chin and says, “Judging by what the doctor said, you guys had busted in merely minutes after the death. There was a small struggle, hence the music system got turned on and then the attacker pushed Jungwoo back and he crashed into the table.” Taekwoon looks at Yukhei and Junmyeon, “How long did you say it took you and mister Kim to break the door?” 

Yukhei answers, “I’d say about two to three minutes?" Junmyeon nods in agreement.

Byuli enters the room, groaning, “God, that kid was insufferable.” She stops when she senses the tension, so she furrows her brows and asks, “What happened?” Taekwoon tells her what they had learned and her eyes widen as he says, “We need a tech here, dusting the place.” She calls for one and then she gestures at them to sit down. She takes her time to look at Jongin and Yukhei, then she sighs, “Alright, amateur detective duo, tell us what you know.”

Yukhei perks up and looks at Jongin, who shrugs his shoulders with a small smile. Yukhei grabs his notebook from under the coffee table and says, “Actually, I’ve been noting stuff down here.”

Joohyun returns to their flat and finds Yerim and Jennie pacing with Sooyoung sitting on the couch, blankly staring at the wall. Yerim and Jennie stop pacing and rush up to her, their questions jumbling together.

“What happened?”

“Is it another murder or something?”

Joohyun raises her hands to quiet them down and says, “It’s Jungwoo-sshi. He’s dead.”

Jennie and Yerim gasp; they had heard the commotion upstairs and the subsequent sounds of the police coming. Since Jennie thought it wouldn’t be nice to crowd upstairs, she had asked Joohyun to go. Joohyun met Yibo on the way and from the guy’s disinterested, monosyllabic answers, which almost made Joohyun want to shake the poor guy till his bones rattled, she got the information she wanted. She knows Yibo is a strange one, though he looks harmless, she is not entirely sure what his deal is. 

As Yerim pesters her for more details, Sooyoung suddenly gets to her feet and walks towards the foyer. She puts on her shoes and mumbles, “I need some air.”

Jennie opens her mouth to say something but Sooyoung is already out, shutting the door firmly behind her. Yerim asks, “What? Did she like him too or something?”

Jennie lightly swats at Yerim’s arm and scowls, “Highly unlikely.”

Joohyun keeps staring at the closed door and sighs, “I wish she would just talk to us, or anyone, for that matter!”

Junmyeon and Yifan find themselves reluctant to let Yukhei and Jongin stay alone. They invite them over again and Yifan busts out the hotpot to the delight of their children. Jaehyun and Caiying also, unknowingly, do their bit to lighten Jongin and Yukhei’s mood. Yukhei is dragged to the floor, Jaehyun even plopping himself atop Yukhei so the adult doesn’t escape as they watch his and his sister’s favourite television show. Jaehyun and Caiying keep a close eye on Yukhei just to make sure he laughs at the right times.

Meanwhile, Jongin pitches in his help in the kitchen and is chopping carrots when Yukhei’s loud, high-pitched laughter attracts his attention. He looks up, mid-chop, and smiles when he sees Yukhei laughing with the kids at the animated penguin on the screen. He feels his heart soften at how at ease Yukhei is with children in general and almost makes him wish for more…

“Have you two thought about it?” Yifan suddenly asks as he stirs the broth. Jongin understands the question is for him, so he frowns a little in confusion. Yifan smiles, “About children, I mean.”

Jongin’s heart pounds a little as he says, shaking his head, “Not really.”

Junmyeon grins as he wipes the counter, “We didn’t really, to be honest. I was only accompanying a friend of mine, who wanted to adopt and I met Caiying first.” He looks at his daughter with a fond smile and continues, “She was just a little baby then and one of the babies up for adoption. When I held her, she grabbed my finger and I was suddenly so unwilling to let go.”

Yifan adds, “He was out of it days after he returned, I had to pick his brains to tell me. Then, we both visited the orphanage and learned she had a twin, Jaehyun. I fell in love too—they were much too adorable. And it’s not like children were not in our plans, we just didn’t know when.”

Junmyeon laughs, throwing his arm around Yifan’s waist, “It’s almost like they found us, and not the other way around.”

Jongin feels all warm and tingly at their story. His smile wanes as he resumes chopping, “I did want kids, with my ex-husband, I mean. He was never interested.”

Junmyeon and Yifan know about Jongin’s previous marriage (well, they know it’s previous and Jongin rather tell Yukhei first than tell their friends) and they share a glance. Yifan presses his hand on Jongin’s shoulder and says, “Well, your ex kind of sounds like an asshole. And we know for sure Yukhei isn’t one.”

Junmyeon sends Jongin a smile too and Jongin feels validated, even if for a little bit. Wonshik was always so against children even though when during the early years of their relationship, Jongin had told him that he would love one of his own one day. Wonshik had agreed but how was Jongin to know that would never happen and Wonshik only agreed, said all those things to be with him? 

Yukhei joins them and the topic of the conversation shifts to other things. Yukhei, perhaps, picks up on Jongin’s mood because when they sit down to eat, Yukhei keeps a hand on his knee, constantly circling in soothing motions. The kids have school the next day, so they go to bed early and it’s the pull-out bed in the living room again. Yukhei kisses the top of Jongin’s head as they cuddle, muttering, “What were you and Yifan gege talking about? I saw you getting sad.”

Jongin snuggles deeper and whispers, “Nothing. We were just talking about their kids.”

Yukhei smiles when he understands, “Oh, gege, do you someday want babies too?”

Jongin says, “Well, I’d like to.” He tilts his head back and pouts, “We never really have talked about it, have we? If we’d ever want kids?”

Yukhei cups the side of Jongin’s face and says, “You know I love kids, and I want them too, whenever we’re ready.”

Jongin leans into Yukhei’s touch and he feels the wetness in his eyes as he presses his lips to Yukhei’s murmuring, “I love you.”

Yukhei tightens his arms and says, “I love you.”

Jongin smiles into Yukhei’s chest and the guilt implodes inside him, till he thinks it just might suffocate him. He takes a few deep breaths and lets Yukhei's earthy scent fill his lungs. One day, one day when he can be released from the clutches of his husband, he will tell Yukhei everything. And then, if Yukhei still wants to be with him, Jongin will give him everything he wants, he promises himself that. 

Taeyeon hasn’t been able to sleep, even though she went to bed at ten. It is now almost midnight and she is wide awake. Her mind can’t rest, knowing two murders happened right under her nose and she can’t solve it. She gets up and heads towards her closet. She opens the hidden cabinet she had built inside the closet and brings out the plastic bag. She feels the wooden handle and the faint scent of metal makes her grimace a little. Then, she gets an idea—the police haven’t gotten to Jungwoo’s trash, yet, right?

She puts a black shawl over her pyjamas and steals outside. Living on the first floor has its perks and among them is the fact that she won’t be making any noise calling for the elevator. She knows where she is going, and she smiles when she sees the trash is still there. 

She knows this is quite the disgusting thing to do but this is part of her survival, her income. Every week, on Wednesday, her column _What You Throw Away Says a Lot About You_ comes out and it is the publication’s highest-rated and most-read column. The idea of writing about people’s trash struck her one night when she was throwing away bottles of soju after a drunk one-woman party. She noticed the bag she had in hand and she laughed, thinking how people would perceive that she is some alcoholic when, in reality, she hardly ever drinks. But if anyone had to monitor her drinking, they would know she is prone to bingeing. It sparked a thought and she looked at the trash around her. She saw exam books, bottles of alcohol, broken knickknacks and she started wondering about the lives of others.

She found more interesting things often. Like that broken dildo that one time had her laughing on the floor. She came to one conclusion—human beings think objects they once knew and used no longer exist after they threw them away. And the column was born.

She writes under a nom de plume obviously. Despite her nighttime activities and the money in her bank, she can’t really have people know who she is. They would kick her out of this apartment complex if they did know. However, with the murders, she is struggling. She sees a great writing opportunity but she knows she can’t do it without exposing herself.

She puts on her disposable gloves and is about to dig in when she hears, “So, this is what you do every night?”

Taeyeon jumps in surprise and turns around to find Baekhyun standing behind her with his hands on his hips and a smug smile on his face. Taeyeon’s heart pounds and she knows she has no excuses. He keeps talking as he comes closer, “I was watching some security camera recordings and I found how you occasionally left your apartment after midnight. I wonder where you went,” he chuckles, “But I have my answer now.” He is close enough to breathe in her personal space as he asks, “So, is this a perversion or some sort of psychotic behaviour?”

Taeyeon gulps and her voice is faint as he asks, “Ever heard of What You Throw Away Says a Lot About You?”

Baekhyun pauses a bit, thinking before he nods his head. He looks at her and looks at the trash bins behind her. His eyes start to sparkle as he slowly understands, “You, you’re the writer…”

“Yes,” Taeyeon sighs, taking deep, deep breaths. She looks at her feet and says, “You, you won’t kick me out for this, will you?”

Baekhyun smirks, “Actually, no. You can tell your secrets, and I will tell mine. After all, we’re in the same trade.”

Taeyeon looks up and wonders what those words meant. Baekhyun looks handsome under the dim light and it kind of distracts Taeyeon for a moment but then she shakes her head. “Okay, who are you Byun Baekhyun?”

Baekhyun steps back, grinning, “Come with me. I have some wine left and you can tell me more about the murders and I will tell you all about me.”

Taeyeon raises an eyebrow; not a bad deal as far as she is concerned. She has always loved a good mystery and right now, Baekhyun is one irresistible mystery. 

It is Jennie who wakes first from the screaming. Joohyun follows and when they both rush out of their bedroom, they find Yerim outside Sooyoung’s door. The younger is visibly shaking and her eyes ar wide as she says, “Unnie, unnie, what’s happening?”

The screaming continues as Jennie knocks hard on the door, shouting, “Sooyoung! Sooyoung-ah!”

Joohyun shakes her head and says, “Break it.”

The three of them heave and shove till the door cracks. They find Sooyong gasping, screaming and thrashing on the bed. Joohyun rushes forward and grabs Sooyoung’s shoulders, shouting, “Wake up Sooyoung-ah!” She repeats herself a few more times before Sooyoung wakes up, panting. Joohyun helps her sit up and Jennie hands her a glass of water. Yerim too sits down at the foot of the bed and she chews her lip in worry when she sees Sooyoung’s pale face, dotted with sweat. There are tears running down her cheeks as well.

Jennie uses the sleeve of her nightshirt to wipe Sooyoung’s face and asks, “Hey, you’re okay, okay? It was just a bad dream.”

Joohyun pulls Sooyoung into her arms and rubs her back. Sooyoung sobs and her voice shakes as she says, “Unnie, I saw something, before Jaemin died, I saw him.”

The three women all gasp and share glances. Yerim inches closer and asks, “What did you see unnie?”

Sooyoung raises her head slightly and whispers, “A knife, a bloodied knife. I saw him throw it away.” She pulls back and sniffs, “And I saw Taeyeon-sshi taking it away.”

Jennie and Joohyun look at each other. Jennie nods, as if already understanding what Joohyun is thinking. Joohyun cups Sooyoung’s shoulders and gently says, “Sooyoung-ah, you need to tell this to the police.”

Sooyoung shakes her head and starts crying, “What if they take me away for lying?”

Jennie moves to hug Sooyoung from behind and says, “They won’t, we won’t let them. We will go to the station with you. You won’t need to hide anything.”

Sooyoung nods, rubbing her face. She already feels so much lighter, she should have done this sooner. 

Next morning, Yukhei watches with much confusion as Taekwoon and Byuli arrest Taeyeon. He was at the ground floor going through his mail when the two detectives arrived. Then, some moments later, Taeyeon walks out from Baekhyun’s room in her pyjamas and Byuli immediately cuffs her. Yukhei hears her say, loudly, “Kim Taeyeon, you’re under arrest for obstructing justice and hiding evidence.”

Taeyeon gapes like a fish for some seconds before Taekwoon explains, “We have a witness saying having seen you take out a knife from the trash that was possibly used to murder the first victim. Please come down to the station with us, you may call your lawyer.”

Taeyeon turns her head around and Baekhyun is right behind her, already on the phone. He tells her, “It’s alright babe, I will meet you at the station with my lawyer.”

Yukhei’s jaw unhinges—he is not sure what surprises him the most. Why are they arresting Taeyeon and why indeed did Baekhyun just call her babe? He picks his jaw back when they detectives leave and he rushes upstairs. He has to tell Jongin all of this!


End file.
